“In a scenario that might baffle onlookers from arid regions, people around the Great Lakes – the world’s most abundant freshwater system – are fighting over water. Complaints that levels are too high or too low are longstanding, but the debate is growing louder as a warming climate raises the specter of more dramatic changes.

Now, U.S. and Canadian officials are considering an audacious and costly effort to control the freshwater seas’ ups and downs in a way they never have before. A panel of scientists and engineers will release Wednesday a five-year study of options ranging from minor tinkering to a massive, $8 billion engineering project that would invite comparisons to the Panama Canal or the Hoover Dam.

The latter alternative would involve using dams or other structures to regulate flows between all five Great Lakes. It’s a long shot with few supporters but by including it in their report, the experts acknowledge it could gain traction if future water fluctuations become extreme.”